Just blue-skying here, but Hickey's approach could be a great help to websites that can't or don't seek permission to use images. BuzzFeed's sponsored-content problem would disappear overnight. It'd work well for Poynter, too. Here's a Lego figure I made to represent BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti:

If anyone wants to use it, that's fine, please just credit me.

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AUTHOR INFORMATION

Andrew Beaujon reported on the media for Poynter from 2012 to 2015. He was previously arts editor at TBD.com and managing editor of Washington City Paper. He's the author of the 2006 book "Body Piercing Saved My Life," about Christian rock and evangelical Christian culture.